About halfway through the first season of “Shameless” I reached out to Laura Slade Wiggins’ publicist to set up an interview. I was absolutely enamored of her exuberant portrayal of Karen, the kind of high schooler who didn’t need a cheerleader uniform to seem like the coolest girl on campus. And while her rep replied with a resounding “yes!” she also suggested that we wait a few weeks.

At the time, Karen and Lip were going strong so this “just keep watching” memo had me intrigued. The following episode saw Karen’s tenuous paternal love completely crushed when he denounced her whore ways at a church purity ball. An excellent character moment, so I emailed her rep again, but got another “just keep watching” reply.

How much worse could it get, I wondered aloud to no one in particular. Well, little did I know how far Karen would fall down the rabbit hole over the last two episodes — dying her blonde hair jet black, cutting most of it off, becoming a depressed, pill-popping, destructive shut-in who capped off last week’s penultimate episode by forcing herself on Frank and broadcasting their sex-capades online. Needless to say, her publicist was very right.

PopWrap: OK, so “Shameless” is a crazy show, but I think Karen & Frank is by far its craziest moment to date.

Laura: I didn’t see that coming. I was kind of expecting her to use Frank against her father because she tends to use The Gallaghers to annoy him, but I definitely wasn’t expecting where it went.

PW: You’ve had a few nude scenes on the show before, but nothing like that — are you comfortable with them by this point, or is it still tough?

Laura: The first time, I was completely freaked out because I come from Southern Baptist land – it was the one non-negotiable: no nudity at all! But “Shameless” is totally amazing and you get in a rhythm. Plus, it’s a job, so when you get there it’s all about the scene and character, so that makes being naked in front of the crew less nerve-wracking.

PW: I didn’t realize you had such a similar upbringing to Karen — what do your parents think of the show?

Laura: They have and they are supportive. It’s not their cup of tea – they don’t have viewing parties, but they’re still very proud of it. And I think in a lot of ways, it’s opened up their minds a bit. But, I went through something similar with the church – I felt like they were too hard on women, especially about sex. I feel like there’s a huge double standard. When you get married the women are expected to be virgins but the guys aren’t and that’s ok with them. One of the things I like about “Shameless” is that the women are extremely sexual and up front with their emotions.

PW: Oh, definitely. But I think Karen’s emotions had been a little suppressed all season, no?

Laura: It’s been building up, for sure – but the one thing that no one really talks about is that Karen basically has no parents. She’s spent most of the season going through a horrible divorce, her dad is still living at home even though he hates her mom, so she’s trying to keep them from going after one another all the time. And it’s harder with Frank living there. But the thing is, no one ever asks Karen how she’s doing. Lip isn’t even there for her and she’s always there for him. So when she decides to sleep with Frank, it’s symbolic of “f*** all you people, I don’t care what you think of me, I’m my own person and if you don’t care about me, I’m going to ruin all your lives!”

PW: Is Lip going to freak out when he finds out?

Laura: It completely knocks Lip off his track – I don’t think he ever thought a girl could hurt him that badly. Especially her, who has been through so much with him. But, Lip never really committed to her — she’s not his girlfriend, she’s never been his girlfriend and I don’t think Karen imagines any guy sees her as his girlfriend. She kind of knows that people see her as a whore, but when her dad said it out loud in front of all those church people when she was honestly trying to change, it devastated her. I think she’s in the middle of a very selfish moment, and sleeping with Frank is the most selfish thing she could do.

PW: What can you tease about Sunday’s finale?

Laura: Well, you will see Karen come back to her senses and realize that the past couple of days – cutting off her hair, getting that tattoo, sleeping with Frank, sending the video to everybody – were mistakes. She does feel bad about it but unfortunately by the time she comes to her senses, it’s too late.